Marion and Keith Campbell (second from right) with supporters at the Carrollee Hotel tonight
Keith Campbell, with wife Marion, listens as results get phoned through from booths

April 28, 2012

The final make-up of the South Burnett Regional Council is up in the air with a close race in Division 1 (Nanango) making it almost impossible to split three candidates.

At 8:00pm – with 50 per cent of the vote counted – former Nanango Shire councillor Steve Jeffery was ahead marginally with 564 votes. Incumbent Barry Green had 536 votes and Sandy Towell 477 votes. Mark Ladyman trailed with 89 votes.

At close of counting for the evening, Green had inched ahead to 716 votes, with Jeffery on 677, Towell 591 and Ladyman 107.

In Division 4 (Kingaroy), current Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell was ahead – according to reports from booths – although the ECQ website was still showing (8:00pm) only 17 per cent of the vote counted, 372 votes to  challenger Terry Fleischfresser’s 261.  By 8:30pm, the lead had become 1209 to 814.

Campbell thanked a gathering of supporters at Kingaroy’s Carrollee Hotel for their hard work at the polling booths and said the results that were coming through had left him feeling hopeful.

In Division 6, with 43 per cent of the vote counted by 8:00pm, Cheryl Dalton was ahead of challenger Don Pinwill by 894 votes to 662.  By 8:30pm her lead had extended to 1054 to 762.

Dalton, the incumbent, told southburnett.com.au she was “quietly confident” of success.

CHERBOURG RESULTS:

At close of counting, former Mayor Ken Bone was leading incumbent Sam Murray by 218 votes to 61.

The 11 candidates competing for the four council spots were fairly evenly split.

Leading the race were Gordon Wragge (143 votes) and Christine Stewart (138), followed by Bert Button (117), Rory Boney (115), Duncan Cobbo (115) and Thomas Langton (102).

Bringing up the field were Bevan Costello (91),  Bronwyn Murray (85), Lillian Gray (81), Maylene Saltner (69) and Lillian Hopkins (28).

GYMPIE RESULTS:

At 8:30pm, in Division 6 Tony Perrett was ahead of Brian Thomas by 1463 to 635 with 55 per cent of the vote counted.

In the Mayoral poll, incumbent Ron Dyne was ahead on primary votes in all Divisions, except Division 8 where Mick Venardos was ahead by 83 votes.

TOOWOOMBA RESULTS:

Sitting Mayor Peter Taylor appears to have lost in Toowoomba, with  former Deputy Mayor Paul Antonio having secured more than 45 per cent of the vote at 8:45pm.

Antonio had 22,626 votes compared with Taylor’s 7868.  Joe Ramia – who was Deputy Mayor in the unamalgamated council – was coming second with  7941 votes, ahead of former Toowoomba (and South Burnett) CEO Philip Spencer, 7353.

Did rain deter some voters? Shirley Hallett, from the South Burnett Catholic College in Kingaroy, was sheltering from the rain as she directed voters to the polling booth located at the school